Philippines Leader Resigns, Beset by Scandal

Published: January 20, 2001

MANILA, Saturday, Jan. 20—
President Joseph Estrada quit today, mired in a corruption scandal and with tens of thousands of protesters marching on his residence. The vice president immediately took the oath of office.

The rapid developments came just minutes after protesters pushed through police lines and marched close to the presidential palace, demanding the removal of Mr. Estrada, a former action-film star whose political career was ruined by a corruption scandal and an unprecedented impreachment trial.

''It is now, as the good book says, a time to heal and a time to build,'' the vice president, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, told masses of screaming supporters after taking the oath of office as president at the monument to the revolution that toppled the dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

The demonstrators cheered wildly and waved flags after officials announced that Mr. Estrada had quit.

Mrs. Macapagal Arroyo had been calling herself the ''new commander in chief'' since Friday evening, after Mr. Estrada's military leaders and most of the Cabinet deserted him.

''We can assure the people that President Estrada accepts the decision,'' Mr. Estrada's executive secretary, Edgardo Angara, said. But he disputed widespread speculation that Mr. Estrada planned to leave the country.

The former president spent a turbulent morning barricaded inside the palace, apparently seeking last-minute concessions for the only thing he had left to offer: his resignation.

An air force fighter jet buzzed past the palace in the late morning and four military helicopters had been hovering overhead, reminders that Mr. Estrada's defense chiefs had deserted him on Friday.

The nation has been suffering through political turmoil that exploded in October with allegations that Mr. Estrada took gambling kickbacks and skimmed money from provincial tobacco taxes.

His highly charged opponents and smaller groups of supporters got into shoving matches early today near one roadblock, where rocks and one small explosive were thrown. The police fired at least one warning shot but there were no reports of injuries.

For Mr. Estrada, the end was inglorious, beginning with his impeachment trial on Tuesday, when senators serving as judges narrowly refused to open bank records that prosecutors say would have proven his guilt on corruption charges.

Protests swelled and Mr. Estrada was devastated on Friday by a string of high-level defections and a raucous rally at a Manila monument to the 1986 ''people power'' revolt that threw out the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

As Mr. Estrada tried to negotiate as favorable an exit as possible, demonstrators began marching toward the palace early this morning.

Some rode in trucks and waved big flags and banners, but most were on foot, cheered by thousands on roadsides who handed out food and gave thumbs-down signs for Mr. Estrada, who is known as Erap.

The emotional crowd eventually reached a barricade not far from the palace gates and pushed quickly through, yelling ''Peace!'' at the riot police, who quickly retreated.

Manila's influential Roman Catholic leader, Jaime Cardinal Sin, had asked the protesters to delay the march because of worries of violence.

But ''this is the only way to show President Estrada that he has to step down for the good of the country and the love of the nation,'' said one protest leader, Teddy Casino.

Mr. Estrada tried to buy time Friday with two appearances on national television. He offered to restart his impeachment trial, then later urged Congress to call snap elections in May, saying he would stay out of the race.

It was a clear attempt to thwart Vice President Macapagal Arroyo, the daughter of a former president, who headed an opposition group made up of such diverse elements as big business and left-wing labor and communist forces. Her aides resisted Mr. Estrada's attempts to gain concessions.

Details of his decision to leave were not immediately released.

Three airplanes were reportedly put on standby at nearby Villamor Air Base, and immigration officials were said to have been sent there to process some people leaving the country. Rumors of possible destinations included the United States and Australia.

A United States State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, called the crisis ''a domestic issue for the people of the Philippines to decide according to their own peaceful means and constitutional system.''

Minutes after Mr. Estrada went on television for the first time Friday, the military chief, Gen. Angelo Reyes, abandoned the president and joined the wildly cheering protesters in Manila.

General Reyes sought conciliation, saying Mr. Estrada and his family should be allowed to ''exit with dignity.''

Chanting and dancing anti-Estrada demonstrators jubilantly declared victory even then, after earlier hanging the president in effigy and conducting a mock trial that found him guilty. The rally echoed the protests against Marcos, who fled the country when the military turned against him.

On Friday, the crowd near the monument to the revolution erupted into screams and cheers when General Reyes stepped on stage. A low-flying airplane dropped confetti, and drummers beat a frenetic rhythm as the general, who had been a supporter of Mr. Estrada, called on him to resign.

The appearance recalled Marcos's departure. Marcos fled the country after the people and the military had turned against him, and that memory fired up the crowd.

''I am overwhelmed,'' said Antoinette Cordero, 21, a medical student, who stood on tiptoes for a glimpse of General Reyes in his crisply pressed uniform. ''I was feeling bad about the government and the future. That just changed.''

After the rally, Mrs. Macapagal Arroyo summed up her position: ''The president has not only lost moral authority to govern, but now has no government'' she said in the statement in which she called herself the ''new commander in chief.''

Mr. Estrada has been battling for his future since his longtime friend Gov. Luis Singson of Ilocos Sur came forward in October and said he had helped the president take $8 million in kickbacks from illegal gambling and $2.7 million skimmed from tobacco taxes. The charges eventually built into the impeachment trial.

The trial collapsed on Tuesday, when senators, sitting as judges, voted narrowly to block access to bank records that prosecutors said would prove that Mr. Estrada had hidden millions of dollars. The prosecutors resigned in protest.

Photos: On television Friday, Mr. Estrada said, ''My conscience is clear.''; Generals on stage, left, at a demonstration yesterday against President Joseph Estrada, whose nickname is Erap. After cheering the officers, thousands remained overnight and then marched this morning to the presidential palace, where, it was announced at midday, Mr. Estrada had quit. (Photographs by Associated Press)(pg. A3)